Ectopic pregnancy

Ectopic (tubal) pregnancies are not all that common, so some may not even know what they are. Others have heard of them, stored the info learned for the future, and went on with life. And others have become experts in them, by the devastating circumstances of having one. And, November 4, I discovered I belonged to this latter category.

And ectopic pregnancy is when a newly conceived baby implants somewhere other than where he belongs, the waiting womb. Most often the spot chosen is in a fallopian tube (thus the common term "tubal pregnancy"), or possibly the ovary or in the abdominal cavity at large. Sometimes it is caught early enough that medication can be used to cause the tube to release the baby, but sometimes there is no sign until the tube ruptures from the pressure of the growing baby. If the tube does rupture, the resulting blood loss can be life threatening. In either case, there is no way to save the baby.

My experience began Monday morning, as I was preparing some things for school. We had known we were pregnant for just more than two weeks, and we were very excited about adding another member to the family. I hadn't been feeling very good already, and was, to be quite honest, dreading the morning sickness coupled with remodeling and taking care of my family. But still, looking forward to July 1 and snuggling a newborn again in my arms. There were several things I found strange about this one. Though I was really hoping for another girl, I felt strongly that it was a boy. And, I found myself wondering if/when I would find myself mourning a miscarriage, as a number of friends had recently been bereaved that way. Almost as if I was being prepared....

I was sitting quietly in the office chair sorting some papers when the pain came. Low in my abdomen, it came in quickly increasing waves. I carefully analyzed it, and decided it must be a bowel issue. Though I had just used the bathroom and hadn't noticed anything unusual. Done with my school prep, I decided to ignore it and head back over to the school room. But I couldn't. It was too intense. I made my way to the bathroom, then to bed. No symptoms but the pain. Feeling a little foolish about being so wimpy about a bowel issue, I called my husband and asked him to come inside and check on me. Thankfully, he was home that day, working on our new house. By the time he came in I could hardly talk. More than just in great pain, I was feeling miserable. Cold, then hot. Sweaty. Sick. The pain was like a bad contraction that wouldn't let up. I finally managed to use the bathroom again, and noticed an extreme pain around the rectal area. (Sorry if too graphic, but I'm hoping that this information might save a life someday.) The pain did subside a little then, though I hadn't noticed any other bowel symptoms, and my husband went back to his project. He had called the clinic, and our doctor was busy with an emergency and wouldn't be able to see us until later. We didn't feel it merited going to the ER, though as EMT's we both should have seen I was at that point in shock. We chalked my shock symptoms up to the pain, and I laid in bed feeling bad that I wasn't getting school done.

I was actually feeling quite a bit better when we got in the van headed for the clinic. But it went downhill quickly from there. I felt faint while checking in, and had to sit down. I was called in promptly, and the nurse couldn't find a blood pressure. She helped me lie down, and ran for the doctor. They transported me via our own ambulance to the ER, where an ultrasound confirmed what I'd refused to consider--the baby was in the tube and it had ruptured. By that time I couldn't lay flat on my back or the pain would radiate up into my chest so intensely I couldn't breathe--a classic symptoms of blood free floating in the abdomen (and, they told me later, so was the localized rectal pain...).

In surgery they removed the "blown apart" tube, and 2 1/2 liters of blood. The average adult body has 4-5 liters of blood, total. The surgeon later told me she would have given me another hour before my heart would have run out of blood to pump, and I would have died. I NEVER passed any blood until several days after the surgery--one symptom that threw us off, as many ectopic pregnancies first show by spotting. 

So please, pass this information on... Shock symptoms are cold, clammy, pale skin, often accompanied by low blood pressure (mine had been low-normal until we got to the clinic and I'd been standing for too long) and feelings of faintness and/or an inability to think clearly. Abdominal pain is not to be ignored, especially if it is localized around the rectum and/or radiates into a shoulder. My body evidently compensates quite amazingly for blood loss, as I never fainted or had a time when I couldn't think clearly. Which is a good thing, if I'm ever in an emergency where I need to do something (like get out of a burning vehicle) while losing blood. But not such a good thing if we don't realize how badly I really am bleeding.

Every person's body is different. Every ectopic pregnancy is different. But do keep it in mind for yourself or a loved one, that shock symptoms, even if they don't always make sense, aren't to be fooled around with. Get to the hospital. Even if it seems like just a normal day. Emergencies happen. Don't take it lightly.